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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

That my friends... is a shark.

Saturday was a beautiful day, so we decided to go to the beach. We went to Fagatelli Bay which is a marine reserve not too far from where we live. This was my first time to the bay, and possibly the last due to the hike to and from the beach. Fagatelli is a beach for the determined beach goer. To get to the top of the mountain you have to drive through the dump and then get out of your car and ask a Samoan family if you can continue on. They must give you their permission and open the gate for you or you can't get up to where you park.

The hike down wasn't bad. It was a steep in places, but due to all the rain we have been having, it was very slippery. Some would say that I am a slow hiker, but I would classify it as cautious. When you fall down as much as I do it forces you to double check every step on foreign ground. The hike down took me a lot longer than everyone else. I only fell once though which is pretty remarkable. When you get down to the bottom of the hike there is a large ladder you have to crawl down before you are on the beach.

As I was crawling down the ladder I heard the others yelling for my camera. Turns out that there was a shark in the reef. We have seen sharks before, but this one was really close. He was in really shallow water, but he didn't stay long. He was in and out long enough for us to get some pictures and video of him, and then he went out to deeper water.

I wanted to snorkel, but the water was too rough. Probably from the cyclones in the area. I was okay with not snorkeling though because I realized how pale I am getting. It was a great day to work on my tan.

I was dreading the hike out from the minute I got down the ladder. I decided to hike out early by myself because I am slow and not in the best shape. Turns out that was a good idea. I left 30 minutes before everyone else and it was perfect. When I finally got back to the car I thought that my core body temperature had to be at 300 degrees...No joke. The hike ended up being easier than I anticipated, but you add the sweat and the heat and it isn't something Im looking forward to doing again any time soon.